brighter than even a main beam car light

1975 Mini maybe.

There is a narrow country road (about 1.5 lanes wide) near us that goes up a hill for several hundred yards that we have used for many years for hill repeat training. We never had (or witnesed) any problems until a couple of years ago the council in their infinite wisdom decided to make it safer and put in stretches of width restrictions in the name of “traffic calming”.

These tend to alternate with wider passing places every 50-80 metres or so and right of way is obvious depending on which side the width restriction is. We don’t usually have much problem on the bikes and tend to let cars coming up behind us go as soon as we reach a passing place and give way to cars coming the other way when necessary.

However, there’s almost never a ride goes by when we don’t witness one numpty or another in a car who just can’t wait for drivers coming the other way. It’s really amusing at times because you get Mexican stand-offs where drivers who should give way carry on down the restriction and then the driver coming the other way also keeps going. They generally meet in the middle and we ride past laughing.

We had a woman in a Mercedes once who should have given way and had to back up about 50 metres or so. She was so inept though she kept turning the steering wheel the wrong way and ended up backing into a hedge that she couldn’t get out of. Oh how we laughed!

Far from being traffic calming it just makes drivers more and more irate and probably the cause of other incidents further down the line as they rush to get home to take it out on their wife and/or kids.

I do hundreds of miles every year on singletrack roads and always find that rising close to the verge only encourages oncoming drivers to think they can squeeze past. Riding in the centre of the road causes them to think twice and while I’m always prepared to pull over I don’t do so until absolutely necessary. Of course there are still idiots that won’t stop at the passing place between you and them, but aggressive road positioning does ensure that they slow down to a crawl as they pass.

A couple of weeks ago on my way to work a car caught me on a narrow lane with a few sharp bends separated by 20 to 30 metre sections, then it opens out into a normal 2 lane width. I held my position a metre or so from the verge on my side thinking it would be dangerous for them to pass, the car kept coming closer and then did a James bond style pass with 2 wheels riding up the embankment on the other side of the road heading toward a blind bend. 20 seconds later they’d have had a whole lane width to do it on. Funny thing was they got held up by a farm vehicle going into a gate and I got right onto their tail again but decided it was safer not to pass.

Secondly, most bike lights now are brighter than even a main beam car light and I’ve had drivers pull right off the road and stop before now – they usually think it’s an oncoming tractor!

see those bits up ^ there about not being a dick ? 😕

Far from being traffic calming it just makes drivers more and more irate and probably the cause of other incidents further down the line as they rush to get home to take it out on their wife and/or kids.

changed my regular road route because of this
(white line here is the edge of the uniformly rideable/driveablke road, not in any way a bike lane – about 18″ wide here):
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Fdp7Mb]bike cam SK02ARA[/url] by scaredypants, on Flickr

Cycling home tonight I was more worried than I’ve been for quite some years. It appears that even though I was wearing a reflective jacket, had 2 back lights (one flashing the other solid – a dynamo rear lamp) and a nice Dynamo front lamp I had 3 cars attempting to pass where there wasn’t space and one who objected to me being in the road and doing a properly considered punishment pass by slowing down, driving alongside me then veering across the centre line then pulling right into the kerb – where I would have been if I hadn’t realised that he was a homicidal lunatic.
They’re all out tonight.

It’s not just cyclists, though – I use about 5 miles of country roads as part of my daily commute by car and, just about every single day, somebody coming the opposite way simply cannot wait 5 seconds for me to clear a narrow section and will drive into it too, causing us both to have to stop/fold mirrors in/drive halfway up a bank. (Which usually takes many times longer than if they’d just waited)

There really are some mentalists out there, and they’re probably breeding, too.

I just regard everyone in a car/van/truck as someone who wants to kill me and ride accordingly.

This, unfortunately, is the rule I apply when walking, cycling or indeed driving. Just assume everybody is going to do something highly erratic or life threatening and you’ll be okay.

I go with the approach of riding a bit further out well in advance when you see oncoming traffic, such that you obviously can’t both carry on as you are.

Then, most drivers will slow down and move over as much as possible, and you can gradually move back over, probably further in than originally positioned, and pass with a cheerful wave.

Otherwise, you have a clear sign that the driver is one of the sociopathic variety, so you still move over in the same way but are better prepared for the option of diving into the hedge/ditch if necessary.

My regular local loop involved a few miles of single track road with passing places, some of which has banked sides making it virtuallly impossible to move far enough over to let anything other than a small car pass.
Never really had too many problems and in fact I use the psssing places to let traffic overtake me – most drivers take time to acknowledge this gesture too.

However was out with my son on Saturday morning when the local Morrisons delivery driver came towards us, drove straight past the only passing place between us so ultimately our only option was to turn round and ride back to the last gateway and let him past. From his reaction I don’t think it was aggressive, I think some people just aren’t very good drivers… which is a worry when it’s their job.

I go with the approach of riding a bit further out well in advance when you see oncoming traffic, such that you obviously can’t both carry on as you are.

Then, most drivers will slow down and move over as much as possible, and you can gradually move back over, probably further in than originally positioned, and pass with a cheerful wave.

Otherwise, you have a clear sign that the driver is one of the sociopathic variety, so you still move over in the same way but are better prepared for the option of diving into the hedge/ditch if necessary.

This.

I have a theory that a lot of people essentially regress to toddler stage when they get in their cars, and they need clear, assertive leadership about how to behave. Give them that, I they often meekly comply. Let them get scared cos they’re not sure what to do and you get panic and tantrums. Honestly – I’ve been on the receiving end of what can only be described as a tantrum many times – once it even ended in a sulk – pursed lips and everything 🙂

I go with the wave pre-emptively – as soon as they see me. It’s a polite way of saying ‘stay where you are, I’m here already’ – most people reciprocate. But as John says you know pretty quickly if you’re dealing with a psycho and because you’ve started the interaction early, you give yourself extra time to take avoidance action…

I treat it exactly the same way that I would if I was driving…
If there is space to pull over and let the other vehicle past then I do so (there’s always space to let the other vehicle past if you’re on a bike)

If you treat it any other way then expect confrontation

I’m with yunki.

At the end of the day we all have to share an inadequate amount of space. A bit of give and take and a heaped tablespoon of “it’s not worth being dead over”.

It doesn’t stop the deliberately homicidal (inadequate?) but it does help reduce the effect of the oblivious (and goodness knows there’s enough of them).

I’m with yunki.

No! You’re with ME, cos I said that on the first bloody page 😆

there’s always space to let the other vehicle past if you’re on a bike

Sometimes there’s not- especially so if the vehicle is going quickly.

Got screamed at for being a dangerous idiot on the wrong side of the road as I avoided a flooded section that I know is hiding some severe potholes the other morning. Driver then undertakes me through the flood before stuffing it into what sounded like one of the bigger holes. It also sounded expensive.

@Scaredypants, I suspect you needed a new set of pants after that!! Looks terrifying!

I’ve just been advised to report an elderly driver to the DVLA by my local police. He pulled out from my right and basically drove at me the other day; claimed he saw me. If he did then he’s not fit to drive anymore. If he didn’t see me then he’s not fit to drive anymore.

I do tend to ride aggressively and rarely have cars force me into the verge as a result, but there are occasions you can tell the driver won’t entertain consideration. I’m worth more dead than alive, currently, but I’m quite enjoying life at the moment!

I guess we’ll all need to have GoPros or similar when riding on the road to capture the action.